National Crime Victimization Survey, 1992-2001 (ICPSR 3428)

The National Crime Victimization Surveys (NCVS) series,
previously called the National Crime Surveys (NCS), has been
collecting data on personal and household victimization through an
ongoing survey of a nationally-representative sample of residential
addresses since 1973. The NCVS was designed with four primary
objectives: (1) to develop detailed information about the victims and
consequences of crime, (2) to estimate the number and types of crimes
not reported to the police, (3) to provide uni... (more info)

The National Crime Victimization Surveys (NCVS) series,
previously called the National Crime Surveys (NCS), has been
collecting data on personal and household victimization through an
ongoing survey of a nationally-representative sample of residential
addresses since 1973. The NCVS was designed with four primary
objectives: (1) to develop detailed information about the victims and
consequences of crime, (2) to estimate the number and types of crimes
not reported to the police, (3) to provide uniform measures of
selected types of crimes, and (4) to permit comparisons over time and
types of areas. The survey categorizes crimes as "personal" or
"property." Personal crimes include rape and sexual attack, robbery,
aggravated and simple assault, and purse-snatching/pocket-picking,
while property crimes include burglary, theft, motor vehicle theft,
and vandalism. Each respondent is asked a series of screen questions
designed to determine whether she or he was victimized during the
six-month period preceding the first day of the month of the
interview. A "household respondent" is also asked to report on crimes
against the household as a whole (e.g., burglary, motor vehicle
theft). The data include type of crime, month, time, and location of
the crime, relationship between victim and offender, characteristics
of the offender, self-protective actions taken by the victim during
the incident and results of those actions, consequences of the
victimization, type of property lost, whether the crime was reported
to police and reasons for reporting or not reporting, and offender use
of weapons, drugs, and alcohol. Basic demographic information such as
age, race, gender, and income is also collected, to enable analysis of
crime by various subpopulations.

Access Notes

This data collection has been deaccessioned; it is no longer distributed by ICPSR.
Additional information may be available in Data Collection Notes.

2008-12-17 This data collection has been deaccessioned and is no longer available. Replaced by study 22920.

Through 1999, the NCVS data were maintained under
a single study number. Beginning with the year 2000, files from
individual years have separate study numbers.

The NCVS data are
organized by year, with six collection quarters comprising an annual
file: the four quarters of the current year plus the first two
quarters of the following year.

The number of records and
variables for each file, as well as the logical record length, can be
found in the codebooks.

Incident-Level files were created from the
annual hierarchical files and include information on victims rather
than nonvictims. There are three types of Incident-Level files: single
year, concatenated annual, and concatenated rape subset. In all three
types, an Incident record was extracted from the hierarchical full
files. The Incident-Level files were bounded by calendar year.

Study Description

Citation

U.S. Dept. of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics. NATIONAL CRIME VICTIMIZATION SURVEY, 1992-2001. Conducted by U.S. Dept. of Commerce, Bureau of the Census. ICPSR03428-v5. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [producer and distributor], 2006-06-08. http://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR03428.v5

2008-12-17 This data collection has been deaccessioned and is no longer available. Replaced by study 22920.

Through 1999, the NCVS data were maintained under
a single study number. Beginning with the year 2000, files from
individual years have separate study numbers.

The NCVS data are
organized by year, with six collection quarters comprising an annual
file: the four quarters of the current year plus the first two
quarters of the following year.

The number of records and
variables for each file, as well as the logical record length, can be
found in the codebooks.

Incident-Level files were created from the
annual hierarchical files and include information on victims rather
than nonvictims. There are three types of Incident-Level files: single
year, concatenated annual, and concatenated rape subset. In all three
types, an Incident record was extracted from the hierarchical full
files. The Incident-Level files were bounded by calendar year.

Methodology

Sample:
Stratified multistage cluster sample.

Weight:
The data files include three weight variables: household,
person, and incident. To use the weights correctly they must be
adjusted. See the codebook for information on how to adjust the
weights to calculate household, population, and victimization
estimates.

Extent of Processing: ICPSR data undergo a confidentiality review and are altered when necessary to limit the risk of
disclosure. ICPSR also routinely creates ready-to-go data files along with setups in the major
statistical software formats as well as standard codebooks to accompany the data. In addition to
these procedures, ICPSR performed the following processing steps for this data collection:

Performed consistency checks.

Checked for undocumented or out-of-range codes.

Version(s)

Original ICPSR Release:2002-11-22

Version History:

2006-06-08 The Stata dictionary and system data files
for datasets 2-4 were corrected to set the storage type as double for
numeric variables with more than nine significant digits.

2006-05-02 All four data parts were updated to
include 28 new variables regarding computer crime. These variables are
included with the person information (V3000's). In addition, variables
with decimal specifications now have explicit decimals instead of
implied decimal formats. SAS transport, SPSS portable, and Stata
system files were added for Parts 2, 3, and 4.

2006-01-18 File CB03428-ALL.PDF was removed from
any previous datasets and flagged as a study-level file, so that it
will accompany all downloads.

2005-04-07 All concatenated incident-level files
and rape subset files have been updated. These updates were made
because of a previous change to the 1994 full hierarchical file
relating to quarters 1 and 2 of 1995.

2004-09-02 The Bureau of Justice Statistics has
resupplied the 2001 data. The structures of the data files have not
changed, but the content of all four data files has been updated. SAS
and SPSS setup files have been updated, and the codebook has been
modified to reflect these changes.